Cosmos: Color Coming!

Hurray! I am happy to announce that the cosmo seeds I planted on August 9th, six weeks ago, are just about to bloom. :-)

I'm so pleased.

Cosmo Update

The cosmos are thriving! I have been so pleased that they have made it past the fragile, seedling stage and are able to make it more than a day without watering. The plants with the lacier foliage, which produce pink and purple blooms, were slower to grow at first, but are rapidly catching up with their sturdier looking counterparts, which will produce orange and yellow flowers.
The one attacker I've had to battle with these young plants is snails. I've lost probably a dozen plants to their feasting. You wouldn't think snails could be much of a threat, but they seem to thrive in the humidity here, and look at the shape this poor little seedling is in as a result of their midnight snacking:
Fortunately, most of the plants seems to have avoided the snails' munching. These plants look like they will have buds on them any day now!Here's a look at our funky front yard, and the raised round bed that I have the cosmos growing in. Hopefully soon there will be some color peeking above the bushes around the outside of the circle.I'm enjoying putting together these posts about my little garden. Again, thanks for indulging me. Mark, I hope you've gotten to read these posts... and I'm watching for updates from your backyard as well! :-)

Cosmo Circle

We have a strange yard, if you can call it that, around our house here in Jinqiao. The front inside the gate is completely cobbled, so that the car can pull right up to the front door. There is a small amount of grass, but not enough to really mention. The focal point of the "yard" is this round, elevated garden of sorts. I think it was meant to be a fountain in the landlord's original plans, because it has a water source in it, but the circle was filled in with soil at some point, and has brambly little bushes planted around the perimeter. Some seasons maintenance has planted flowers in the middle, but this year there was nothing growing but weeds. While we were in the US this summer, enjoying working in the yards at our parents' homes, I decided I was tired of leaving this circle flower bed to the whims of the management, and bought flower seeds to plant when we returned to Shanghai.
I planted two varieties of cosmo seeds the day after our plane landed in Shanghai nearly three weeks ago, after spending a good hour clipping back the brambly bushes around the edge of the circle and pulling all the weeds growing in the middle. Cosmos grow so easily, and with the hot and steamy weather here, they were literally poking their little heads up out of the ground within days. They've needed water every day, but the last couple days we've had some good rain to help them along.

I'm loving having something in the yard to nurture besides the couple of pots of flowers on the front steps. There is something so satisfying about watching plants emerge from the ground and flourish. I'm hoping these grow and bloom above the level of the bramble bushes. I'm planning to chronicle their development here. Thanks for indulging me!

A Gift

I wrote about my little garden a couple of months ago, wondering what would be blooming before we moved. These snapdragons were an unexpected gift. I had planted snaps last year, and I thought they were just an annual flower. I think they are annuals, but the conditions must have been just right for last year's snaps to completely reseed, and so this year I ended up with hundreds of volunteers!